Wisconsin Divorce Residency Requirements

To file a divorce in Wisconsin specific residency requirements must be met.^[1] For a court to have jurisdictional rights to oversee a divorce case, proof of the following must be provided: One spouse must be a Wisconsin resident for a minimum of 6 months and a current resident of the county they file for a minimum of 30 days.

So What Counts? If you can answer yes to the following questions, you meet the Wisconsin residency requirements and can file a petition for divorce in your current county:

• Have I been considered a legal resident of Wisconsin for the last six months?
• Have I been considered a legal resident of the Wisconsin county I am filing my divorce for the last 30 days?

Fail to Meet Residency Requirements? If residency requirements CAN NOT be met one of the following can be done to proceed with a divorce:

• Establish legal residency^[2] in Wisconsin and wait to meet the residency requirement to file a divorce
• Convince your spouse to file if they meet the requirements
• Get divorced in another state where you meet the residency requirements (all states are unique, so check their residency requirements)